Mission to mars

Space is a dangerous place. A new report shows just how dangerous it could be to human brains. Radiation exposure from a Mars missions could cook brain cells, causing chronic dementia and memory loss, and leaving astronauts with debilitating anxiety levels, the study has found. This could throw off their thinking and judgment, impairing decision-making and multi-tasking. The results, published in Scientific Reports, are based on experiments in rodents. Radiation oncologist Charles Limoli and his colleagues at the University of California Irvine bombarded mice and rats with low-doses of ionized oxygen or titanium. These charged particles have similar energies to those of cosmic rays that can pass right through the shielding on spacecraft. The dosage levels that the researchers used were similar to what astronauts would be exposed to during a three-year round-trip mission to Mars, Limoli says. The researchers looked at the prefrontal cortex, … [Read more...] about A Mission to Mars Could Cause Serious Brain Damage

SpaceX founder Elon Musk says travel to Mars is within reach, and even plans to have one million people living on Mars within the next century. SpaceX isn’t the only space corporation working toward reaching Mars, however. In fact, there are quite a number of missions — both manned and unmanned — currently planned or under proposal from government space organizations and private space flight companies across the globe.Exploration of Mars and eventual human travel to it are not new concepts. While manned missions have remained financial and logistical near-impossibilities, unmanned missions began in 1960. There have been 55 Mars missions so far, though of those only 26 were successful (that makes 29 failures to some degree). Across the Martian surface, no less than 13 human-made robots and probes currently reside, with two rovers currently operational, while in the skies, 13 more human-made objects orbit Mars, of which five satellites are operating. That … [Read more...] about We’re going to the red planet! All 19 past, present, and future missions to Mars

Millionaire and former space tourist Dennis Tito on Wednesday revealed details of his ambitious plan to send a manned spacecraft to Mars in January, 2018.Tito told a media gathering in Washington that the 501-day mission, dubbed Inspiration Mars, a mission for America, is likely to involve a two-person crew comprising a man and a woman. He said that ideally the pair would be a married, middle-aged couple, adding that the space travelers could be selected within the next year.There had been some speculation as to whether Tito himself would take part in the Red Planet mission, but he ruled himself out. He will, after all, be 77 in 2018 so his decision to oversee the mission from terra firma won’t come as a surprise to too many observers.“I will not be one of the crew members,” Tito confirmed on Wednesday. “And if I were 30 years younger, I still would not be.” Twelve years ago, the former rocket engineer became the first paying passenger to visit the … [Read more...] about Mission to Mars: Space tourist Dennis Tito intends to send married couple to the Red Planet (and bring them back again)

While most of us were lazing around playing video games or catching up on chores over the weekend, NASA spent its Sunday announcing a new agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The agreement will see both nations collaborate on a range of space project and aeronautical researching — including the possibility of a cooperative mission to Mars.“NASA is leading an ambitious journey to Mars that includes partnerships with the private sector and many international partners,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “I am confident this new framework agreement with the UAE Space Agency will help advance this journey.”The UAE Space Agency (UAESA) has been open about its plans to land an unmanned probe on Mars by the year 2021, which just so happens to mark the nation’s fiftieth anniversary. NASA, for its part, wants to land American astronauts on Mars sometime in the 2030s. Together it’s a match made in… well, the heavens.“The reason … [Read more...] about NASA is teaming up with United Arab Emirates to gather data for a manned mission to Mars

Despite the tough challenges currently facing his SpaceX company, Elon Musk has made clear that he’s as determined as ever to get humans on Mars in the next 10 years.“I’m certain that success is one of the possible outcomes for establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, a growing Mars colony,” the SpaceX chief said in a recent interview with Y Combinator, adding that up until just a few years ago he wouldn’t have been able to make the same claim.Musk said that getting “a meaningful number of people” to Mars “can be accomplished in about 10 years, maybe sooner, maybe nine years.”He first mooted the idea of a manned mission to Mars by 2026 at an event at the start of the year.“Do we want a future where we are forever confined to one planet until some eventual extinction event, however far in the future that might occur?” Musk said at the tech gathering in Hong Kong. “Or do we want to become a multi-fantasy species … [Read more...] about SpaceX still on course for a manned mission to Mars ‘in 10 years, maybe sooner’

The U.S. National Research Council (NRC) is recommending planetary science missions for the decade 2013-2022 that could provide important new clues about our solar system.After sorting out budget issues, five expert panels selected research priorities through a rigorous review that included input from planetary sciences experts, town hall meetings, and a contractor who provided independent cost and technical analyses."Our recommendations are science-driven, and they offer a balanced mix of missions -- large, medium and small -- that have the potential to greatly expand our knowledge of the solar system," said Steven W. Squyres, Cornell University professor of astronomy and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "However, in these tough economic times, some difficult choices may have to be made. With that in mind, our priority missions were carefully selected based on their potential to yield the most scientific benefit per dollar spent." Astrobiology is all the rage these … [Read more...] about To Mars, Europa and Beyond – Budget Permitting

Data Analysis Russia Hopes Nuclear Ship will Fly Humans to Mars Russia should build a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets, the nation's space chief said on October 29, 2009. Anatoly Perminov first proposed building the ship at a government meeting on October 28, but didn't explain its purpose. President Dmitry Medvedev backed the project and urged the government to find the money.In remarks posted on his agency's Web site, Perminov said the nuclear spaceship should be used for human flights to Mars and other planets. He said the project is challenging technologically, but could capitalize on the Soviet and Russian experience in the field. Perminov said the preliminary design could be ready by 2012, and then it would take nine more years and cost 17 billion rubles to build the ship."The project is aimed at implementing large-scale space exploration programs, including a manned mission to Mars, interplanetary travel, the … [Read more...] about Russia Hopes Nuclear Ship will Fly Humans to Mars

Data Analysis journey to Mars.Mars Trek is a free, Web-based application that provides high-quality, detailed visualizations of the planet using real data from 50 years of NASA exploration and allows astronomers, citizen scientists and students to study the Red Planet’s features.Experience Curiosity allows viewers to journey along with the one-ton rover on its Martian expeditions. The program simulates Mars in 3-D based on actual data from Curiosity and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), giving users first-hand experience in a day in the life of a Mars rover.A NASA team already is using Mars Trek to aid in the selection of possible landing sites for the agency’s Mars 2020 rover, and the application will be used as part of NASA’s newly-announced process to examine and select candidate sites for the first human exploration mission to Mars in the 2030s. Read more: How Do We Get More Kids into STEM?“This tool has opened my eyes as to how we should first … [Read more...] about Online Exploring Tools Bring Journey to Mars to New Generation

Data Analysis NASA Cutting Missions to MarsScientists say NASA is about to propose major cuts in its exploration of other planets, especially Mars. And NASA's former science chief is calling it irrational. With limited money for science and an over-budget new space telescope, the space agency essentially had to make a choice in where it wanted to explore: the neighboring planet or the far-off cosmos.Mars lost.Two scientists who were briefed on the 2013 NASA budget that will be released next week said the space agency is eliminating two proposed joint missions with Europeans to explore Mars in 2016 and 2018. NASA had agreed to pay $1.4 billion for those missions. Some Mars missions will continue, but the fate of future flights is unclear, including the much-sought flight to return rocks from the red planet.The two scientists, speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to discuss the budget, said the cuts to the Mars missions are part of a proposed reduction of … [Read more...] about NASA Cutting Missions to Mars

Elon Musk fleshed out his vision for establishing the first colony on Mars in an interview published Friday in The Washington Post.As soon as 2018, Musk's SpaceX venture could launch an unmanned spacecraft to the red planet, he told the paper, and that could be followed by future unmanned flights every two years -- timed for when the Earth and Mars orbits position the planets closest together.A cargo route to Mars would need to be established in advance of any manned trip, Musk said, and he compared the supply trips to trains leaving a station at regular intervals. They would be necessary to deliver the critical infrastructure to Mars that astronauts would need later.The goal of those efforts would be to set the groundwork for the first human mission to Mars in 2025. The first unmanned missions would be sent to conduct science experiments and to deliver rovers to the planet to do basic exploration. What could be a barrier to overcome is that SpaceX is a private company that lacks the … [Read more...] about Musk Envisions Wagon Train to Mars